The first in a series of forecast winter storms brought a mix of high winds, accumulating snow, and snow squalls to northern and central New Mexico. A strong section of the jetstream crossed areas along and east of the central mountain chain, starting over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains first before shifting south over the central highlands and south-central mountains.
Every event with a place to put it; 15 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS ABQ wrote it up.
The first in a series of forecast winter storms brought a mix of high winds, accumulating snow, and snow squalls to northern and central New Mexico. A strong section of the jetstream crossed areas along and east of the central mountain chain, starting over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains first before shifting south over the central highlands and south-central mountains. Peak wind gusts of 60 to 79 mph impacted these areas. Strong westerly winds also reached parts of the adjacent highlands and eastern plains, including Raton, Las Vegas, and Tucumcari. Winter impacts from snow focused mostly over western NM along the Continental Divide where the heaviest amounts of up to a foot were reported atop the Chuska Mountains, Jemez Mountains, and southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Snow squalls were also reported near Farmington and Santa Fe during the evening hours, producing near zero visibility and icy roads. Road closures also resulted from the snow packed and icy road conditions along I-40 from Grants to the AZ border, and along I-25 near La Bajada just south of Santa Fe near the Cochiti Pueblo.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Albuquerque, NM wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 27, 5:01 AM MST, 6 hours 34 minutes earlier.
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 high wind, 6 heavy snow, 2 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Angel Fire airport reported a wind gust of 79 mph.
The Raton Crews Municipal Airport reported a peak wind gust of 67 mph.
The Clines Corners ASOS reported a peak wind gust of 64 mph.
Taos Ski Valley reported a wind gust of 64 mph at Kachina Peak.
Heavy snow impacted the Chuska Mountains. A SNOTEL site reported 14 inches of snow.
Heavy snow impacted the Jemez Mountains. A SNOTEL site reported 12 inches of snow.
I-40 was closed due to a crash caused by severe winter weather road conditions west of Gallup to the Arizona border.
I-40 was closed due to severe winter weather road conditions from Grants to the Continental Divide.
Heavy snow impacted the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The Santa Fe Ski resort reported 12 inches of snow.
Heavy snow impacted the Tusas Mountains. A SNOTEL site reported 10 inches of snow.
The Las Vegas Airport reported a peak wind gust of 64 mph.
The emergency manager shared a photo of high winds having blown down a large live tree in the front yard of a property narrowly missing the house. This occurred on Old Fort Stanton near Alto.
A second video shared on Twitter via local media showed the roof of an outside shed or garage blown of by high winds ten miles north of Ruidoso. Damages are a rough estimate for the roof being blown off.
The Dunken RAWS reported a peak wind gust of 64 mph.
Snow squall. Visibility was reported to have fallen to one quarter mile for around ten minutes in and around Farmington, Bloomfield, and Aztec, NM. The extent of injuries and damages is unknown.
Snow squall. Visibility was estimated to have fallen to one quarter mile based on NMDOT webcams. A semi truck jackknifed on I-25 near La Bajada Hill later that morning due to remnant icy road conditions as a result of the snow squall. The extent of any injuries or damages is unknown.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, December 2022
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1061842, 1061844, 1061843, 1061840, 1061836, 1061838, 1061901, 1061902, 1061839, 1061837, 1061847, 1061845, 1061848, 1061904, 1061905.